Maddie had a tough week with all the school closings and delays. This throws off the thing that helps her stability the most–her typical schedule. Even her Special Olympics basketball practice was cancelled on Saturday because of weather, so Maddie was at her most manic and anxiety-ridden by the end of this very difficult week.

The culmination of all this stress and uncertainty came to a head with her yelling and putting on her coat and snow pants–saying she was going to leave the house. Now I think most of us as kids threatened our parents at least once that we were going to leave and never come back, but when you have a child with a lower level of cognitive understanding like Maddie, it becomes terrifying to contemplate.

Later that night I sat down with her to discuss this scenario, hoping that it would make an impact with her. The video shows this discussion. I can’t be sure if it connected with Maddie or not, but I did what I could to communicate to her how this is never an option she should contemplate.

Today’s video is dedicated to Avonte Oquendo and the people that loved him. My heart is broken for his family. I wish I could say what happened in Avonte’s situation was just some terrible, but isolated incident. It’s not.